[tsimionescu]

Why should it be more acceptable, exactly? This is not even about sexual education, it is literally illegal to explain to those kids that sometimes a man and a woman love each other, and sometimes two men or two women do the same. Of course, the first part will never be enforced, but the second and third clearly will.

There is no age at which it is inappropriate to listen about these extremely basic facts of the world.

[Consultant32452]

When I was in kindergarten I didn't even know my teachers had first names, much less spouses. A kindergartener is not your friend to share your life with. People have terrible boundaries. This is why public schooling must be destroyed.

[michaelmrose]

When I was in kindergarten I knew people you saw in other contexts like school were people like your family who had names and families like your family. I have no idea how one could possibly reach that age and not know that. Extending that with the idea that people's families come in all sizes and combination with some having 2 men or two women seems entirely age appropriate.

In the broader context this topic would be dull as dishwater and boring as toilet training if a certain type didn't make it interesting if only as a measure of their obsession with sex and other people's mere existence transgressing on useless norms that they somehow assume are vital to our society.

Outside of your fantasies teachers aren't violating your kids boundaries by having a same sex partner or a last name nor yet by telling them some households have two mommies or two daddies. What you are actually concerned about is constant exposure to reality may lead your kid to believe that its normal and acceptable for a man to love another man or a woman another woman which is ok because a substantial minority are gay and it is indeed ok for them to love whom they love.

Instead you'd rather in your words "destroy public schooling" one of the most obvious wins of the modern era to avoid... your kid learning about... adam and steve.

[Consultant32452]

Your approval is of no value and your disdain is of no concern. If it helps you to create a fantasy in your mind of what my concerns might be, you are free to do so.

[michaelmrose]

Please do explain how at present kids are being wronged with specific examples and feel free to follow up with what you think public schooling ought to be replaced with for the tens of millions of kids whose parents cannot afford private school.

[Consultant32452]

Government schools are literal prisons for children and the only place many people will ever encounter physical violence in their lifetimes. They should be replaced with nothing.

[michaelmrose]

For practical purposes for a lot of kids this would mean no education, no socialization, less food, and running wild while any and all adults in the house have to work to pay rent. As someone who had a really shitty public school experience I still think this is absolutely an awful idea.

[michaelmrose]

In your other post you referred to my kind and conquering me. Can you explain what that even means?

My kind is American or more broadly Westerner I suppose and I was not aware of any effort to conquer me.

[tsimionescu]

I didn't say anything about the kindergarten teacher's spouse - the simple fact I was mentioning is something kids can obviously see on their own around them, and may well ask their teachers about.

[scarface74]

Well, when I was in kindergarten, I very much knew my teacher had a spouse, had twins, and she was pregnant at the time.

Would it have been inappropriate if she said her and her husband was having a baby? In todays society would it have been in appropriate if she said her and her wife? How do you think these same conservatives would have felt if little Johnny came home and mentioned to their parents that their teacher spoke about her wife?

[UncleMeat]

And when I was in first grade my teacher got married, showed us pictures of the wedding, and changed her last name.

[Consultant32452]

Teachers are service providers. They should have no deeper emotional bond with their students than the cashier at McDonald's has with their regular customers. Students are not friends. While the isolated story of your teacher sharing her wedding pictures is not a big ordeal, it shows an underlying problem of poor boundaries. We have a pervasive problem, at least in the US, of teacher with poor mental health and poor boundaries trying to be friends and pseudo-parents to their students.

[UncleMeat]

I find this approach so sad. We've let the corporatization of everything build such huge walls between us as humans. Seeing every interaction as transactional and emotionless just feels like death to me.

[tsimionescu]

Exactly - and teachers specifically have always been exactly formative figures in your youth.

At least in my country, what the GP is saying is almost the precise opposite of how the pupil-teacher relationship is conceptualized. Indeed, people often bemoan teachers who just think they're providing a service, instead of taking their responsibility as mentors seriously.

[Consultant32452]

Demoralizing public school teachers and making them feel like death sounds like a win to me. The best possible outcome is they all quit and the public schools shut down. Until then, squeeze them, deny them any concept of free speech, let them know they are not to be trusted. These are government agents who have laws compelling parents to put their children in their presence. Public schools are literal prisons for children.

[munk-a]

So are you advocating for religious schools?

Just to be clear - an informed electorate is sort of key for American Democracy so openly arguing against any form of education is a pretty clear argument against some really basic tenants of America.

[jonwithoutanh]

You've got to be the most unhinged person I've ever seen write on these forums. Congratulations.

[scarface74]

So if “public school should be destroyed” what has the alternative?